


Barn

by glassgoblin



Series: Carol's Word-A-Day Calendar [140]
Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-26
Updated: 2015-09-26
Packaged: 2018-04-22 22:12:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4852403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glassgoblin/pseuds/glassgoblin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Trouble sleeping; post Alexandria AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Barn

“You should be sleeping too.” Daryl sat next to him with a sigh, leaning back against the barn wall. Aaron didn’t react though, and Daryl was tempted to say it again in case he wasn’t really awake at all. His eyes were open, staring at the pile of blankets where he should have been sleeping next to Eric. “We’ll all have to be on our feet soon enough.”

“I know. I just can’t sleep.” He glanced at Daryl for a few seconds, “Shouldn’t you be sleeping too then?”

“I took over watch from Carol a little early. She was doing too much yesterday; making sure we all had water, food, watching over the injured. I figured she could use the rest.” He shrugged, “I thought that I’d check on everyone in here before heading to the perch.”

The barn had a nice hayloft, warm from the bales of hay that had melded into each other over time, and there was a good line of sight for the entire road that went by the small farm. Daryl would go up there once he was convinced that the people filling the stalls below were all getting the rest they needed. Some were being a bit stubborn about doing what was best for them though. “I’ll sleep soon, I just needed some time to think.”

“Without interruption?” Daryl gestured toward Eric, “I remember something we talked about a couple weeks ago, about you making decisions for him without his say.”

Aaron shook his head slowly, “I’m not doing anything like that. There are no decisions to be made for just the two of us now. Everything we do involves everyone else here.” He made a small gesture to indicate the stalls around them. “I was just thinking about how life might have been different.”

“Nice place to live?” Daryl chuckled, “You don’t like living in a barn?”

Aaron tipped his head to the side so he could give Daryl a dirty look, “Lifelong dream.”

“No, really. None of us are in a place we might have pictured before.” Daryl shrugged and picked at some of the straw littering the floor. “It doesn’t have to be a bad thing, not all the time.”

“I know, but I keep feeling like I should be doing more. I should be doing something so that he isn’t hungry, or cold, or scared. Before all of this happened we talked about getting married. There were a few states where it was legal, but we never had the time to go and do it, and then we ran out of time.” He clenched his fist around a handful of the ropes hanging from the wall. “I keep thinking that I wouldn’t have been a very good husband.”

Daryl was quiet for several moments, waiting for Aaron to calm down again. It wasn’t easy to read the other man sometimes, but they had spent a lot of time in each other’s company before leaving Alexandria and he was very observant. “You know, he’s probably thinking the same thing about himself. I bet the only reason he can sleep right now is that those kids he was watching today are exhausting. You should talk to him about it tomorrow. I know that helped Maggie and Glenn; they were in a bad spot for a while, back at the prison. You don’t get through those spots by trying to take it all on by yourself.”

Aaron looked at him again, frowning, “I shouldn’t be surprised when you say things like that, but you always catch me off guard.”

“Can’t help that I’m a genius and no one remembers that.” Daryl smirked, “I’d better get up to the loft or Sasha will take my spot. That girl has been itching to shoot something for days.”


End file.
